Thomas Rudyard (1640 – buried 2 November 1692) was a Quaker lawyer in London before moving to America and being appointed deputy governor of

East Jersey The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

and the first Attorney General of the English

Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...

, the predecessor position to the Attorney General of New York State and the successor position to an analogous office under the Dutch colonial government of

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Biography

Born at Abbey Farm,

Rudyard, Staffordshire Rudyard is a lakeside village in the county of Staffordshire, England, west of Leek and on the shore of Rudyard Lake. Population details as taken at the 2011 census can be found under Horton. The Rudyard railway station was opened by the Nor ...

, he was one of many proprietors of New Jersey, owning half of a share of

West Jersey West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often ...

property. Later a resident of

Lombard Street, London Lombard Street () is a street notable for its connections with the City of London's merchant, banking and insurance industries, stretching back to medieval times. From Bank junction, where nine streets converge by the Bank of England, Lombard ...

, in the early 1680s he was a very active member of the British Quakers' Meeting for Sufferings which met quarterly in London to monitor the persecution of Quakers around Britain, and provide support to them and their families. He was also Penn's solicitor and worked closely with Penn in drawing up the first

Frame of Government A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

of Pennsylvania. He was appointed Deputy Governor of East New Jersey, as well as Secretary and Chief Register, from November 1682 until February 1684, when he removed to Pennsylvania. As Governor Robert Barclay was an absentee official who never actually visited East New Jersey, Rudyard was the de facto governor. It was during Rudyard's tenure that the four counties of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

and

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

were established. Rudyard and Surveyor General Samuel Groom soon had a policy disagreement on the granting of land. Groom believed in adhering to the Concession and Agreement of John Lord Berkekey and Sir

George Carteret Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet ( – 14 January 1680 N.S.) was a royalist statesman in Jersey and England, who served in the Clarendon Ministry as Treasurer of the Navy. He was also one of the original lords proprietor of the ...

, which stated that one seventh part of all land allotments was to be reserved to the

Lords Proprietors A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary". Origin In the beginning of the European ...

. Rudyard disagreed with this policy and he and the

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

appointed Philip Wells as Deputy Surveyor, thereby circumventing Groom's authority. The Proprietors in England disapproved of Rudyard and Wells' actions, voiding all grants not surveyed by Groom. Rudyard and the Council replied that they would continue granting land as they had been doing, as the majority of Proprietors were not living in East Jersey. The Proprietors then, on 27 July 1683, appointed

Gawen Lawrie Gawen Lawrie was a deputy governor of the American province of East Jersey from 1683 to 1686. Biography Of Scottish ancestry, Lawrie was born in England and was a resident and merchant in London for many years. Along with William Penn and Nic ...

deputy Governor, replacing Rudyard. Rudyard remained in office as Secretary and Register until 1685. Thomas Rudyard's land dealings resurfaced when, on 28 February 1684/5, he received a grant of 1,038 acres (420.065 ha) on

Raritan Bay Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by P ...

in Monmouth County. This land is now Cliffwood and

Cliffwood Beach Cliffwood is an unincorporated community located within Aberdeen Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP code 07721. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population f ...

in Aberdeen Township. This resulted in Governor Barclay and the Proprietors issuing instructions to Deputy Governor Lawrie on the laying out of land. Section 7 directly addressed the questionable activity of Rudyard and Lawrie himself in their taking up of land. On 5 November 1685 Rudyard sold the land in question to his son in law, Samuel Winder, who on 17 June 1686 sold to

Andrew Bowne Captain Andrew Bowne (c. 1638 - c. 1708) was an American colonial politician and jurist, who served in various capacities in both New York and New Jersey. Biography A son of William and Ann Bowne, Andrew Bowne was born circa 1638 in Salem, Massac ...

. Rudyard's political activity was not limited to East New Jersey, for in 1684 Gov.

Thomas Dongan Thomas Dongan, (pronounced "Dungan") 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715), was a member of the Irish Parliament, Royalist military officer during the English Civil War, and Governor of the Province of New York. He is noted for hav ...

of New York appointed him Attorney General there. He was replaced as Attorney General in December 1685 by James Graham. In 1685 Thomas Rudyard left East New Jersey for

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,Journal of the Governor and Council Vol. I (1682–1714), Archives of the State of New Jersey, First Series, Vol. XIII; The John L. Murphy Publishing Co., Printers, Trenton, New Jersey, 1890. p. 144 where he died in 1692.

Sources

New England Historic Genealogical Society

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudyard, Thomas Colonial governors of New Jersey People from Leek, Staffordshire 1640 births 1692 deaths Deputy Governors of East New Jersey British Quakers English emigrants People of colonial New Jersey

Biography

See also

Sources

References